CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Saturday, March 10, 2007) For the second consecutive day, the Illinois State Redbirds put eight runs up on the scoreboard against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks baseball team. Once again, the deficit was too much for the Redhawks to overcome as they fell to Illinois State 8-2 on Saturday.

The Redbirds (5-6) gave Southeast starting pitcher Josh Syberg trouble early on, scoring two runs in the first inning. Syberg (2-1), a freshman southpaw from St. Louis, Mo., struggled to quiet the powerful Illinois State offense as he gave up three more runs in the third. After just three innings, his day came to a close having given up five runs on seven hits with one walk and one strikeout.

Sophomore Daniel Schuh led off the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run, his first of the season to make it a 5-1 ballgame, but that was as close as the Redhawks (7-5) would come the rest of the game.

The Redbirds added a run in the top of the fourth to answer Schuh's homer, and they scored two more in the seventh to increase their lead to seven. Five Illinois State batters recorded two hits on the ballgame as they tallied a dozen base hits before the game came to a close.

Pitchers Lance Rhodes, Matt Carter and Mike Taylor combined for two and two-thirds shutout innings at the end of the ball game while allowing just one base hit. Carter, making his first appearance of the season, retired three of the four batters he faced in the eighth inning and also recorded a strikeout. Meanwhile, Taylor retired the side in the ninth.

Southeast added a run in the bottom of the ninth, but the seven-run deficit was too much for Southeast to overcome as Illinois State starting pitcher Ryan Copeland held the Redhawks' bats in check for the entire game.

Copeland (2-1), a freshman left-hander, went the distance for the Redbirds, allowing just two runs (one earned) on five hits without issuing a walk. He also struck out four batters.

Omar Padilla led the Redhawks offensively with a pair of base hits, a single and a double, marking his second consecutive multiple-hit game.

Padilla will try to make it three in a row tomorrow afternoon against Illinois State as Southeast looks to win the final game of the weekend series. Senior Asif Shah will be on the mound for the Redhawks, and first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.